In the first duel after the World Cup in Qatar, Portugal entered the field for the Euro Cup qualifiers and beat Liechtenstein by 4 to 0. Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo (twice) were responsible for the goals at Estádio José Alvalade, in Lisbon.
In the confrontation that marked the debut of coach Roberto Martinez in charge of the Portuguese, the team had no difficulty in imposing itself and dominating the match. The absences of goalkeeper Diogo Costa and defender Pepe, cut by injuries, were not felt by the team.
The two countries are in group J of the Qualifiers. In the second round, Portugal will visit Luxembourg, while Liechtenstein will receive Iceland. The two clashes will take place next Sunday (26).
The game
The home team needed just eight minutes to open the scoring. Bernardo Silva took a corner kick in the area and goalkeeper Buchel punched out. In the spare, Cancelo took a risk from outside and had a detour in the middle of the way to score the first goal of the game.
Cristiano Ronaldo even tried to leave his mark in the first half, but failed. In the 23rd minute, the team captain took advantage of defender Traber’s puncture and finished over the goal. Already at 34, the striker was quick to anticipate the goalkeeper after another corner kick. The number 7 even managed to head, but the ball ended up going through the bottom line.
In the first minute of the second stage, the Portuguese managed to score again. Bernardo Silva took advantage of the defense’s wrong cut after João Cancelo’s cross and tapped in, expanding the Portuguese advantage.
Three minutes later, Cancelo was brought down in the area and gave Cristiano Ronaldo the opportunity to score his first goal of the game. The 38-year-old athlete went to the penalty spot and hit the left corner, with no chance of defense for Buchel.
Even with 3-0 on the scoreboard, Portugal remained in the attacking field and CR7 took advantage of that. At 18 minutes, with a free kick at the entrance to the area, the star hit a strong shot in the goalkeeper’s corner and scored his second in the match. Buchel even touched the ball, but it went in anyway.
Check out the results of today’s other games:
Kazakhstan 1v2 Slovenia
Italy 1v2 England
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 Iceland
Denmark 3v1 Finland
Slovakia 0x0 Luxembourg
North Macedonia 2v1 Malta
San Marino 0x2 Northern Ireland
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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